


C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. Liaison

by lirin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Epistolary, Gen, Hogwarts Seventh Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-03-31 01:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13964019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/pseuds/lirin
Summary: The 1997-1998 school year has much more going on besides the fight with You Know Who. Professor McGonagall has plenty to keep her busy just with the day-to-day of making sure O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s go smoothly.





	C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. Liaison

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mechanonymouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechanonymouse/gifts).



> With many thanks to my beta.

10 March 1998  
Minerva McGonagall  
Hogwarts Castle  
Scotland

Commission Of Coordinators, Keepers, And Teachers Reading & Invigilating Children's Exams  
Ministry of Magic Headquarters  
Whitehall, London  
England

Dear Sirs and Madam,

This is in response to your recent letter proposing a change in the O.W.L. format. Of course, you have the authority to change the exams however you wish; nonetheless, I urge you to reconsider.

As you are aware, enrolment at Hogwarts this year is at a fifty-year low. I know you pride yourselves on balancing and equating the exam results from year to year, so that an O always indicates a truly Outstanding grade, and so that performance that Exceeds Expectations in one year would never be considered merely Acceptable in another, etc., etc. With only thirty percent of our average enrolment present in seventh year and forty percent in fifth year (down from forty-five and fifty-five percent, respectively, at the beginning of this school year), I suspect that the process of equating will be difficult enough as it is. I fear that throwing a new exam format into the mix would make this year's scores nearly impossible to fully equate with previous years'.

Additionally, as you aware, we have had more turnover in Hogwarts leadership than usual this past year, with Hogwarts having acquired a new Headmaster for the first time in thirty years. Since the ascension of a new Headmaster is such a rare occasion, I again suggest that this year is not ideal for a change in exam format.

I hope that you will take these points into consideration as you continue to prepare for this year's O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Yours faithfully,

Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. Liaison

 

* * *

 

MEMOWL  
15 March 1998  
To: Headmaster Snape  
From: Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House and Hogwarts C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. Liaison

It has come to my attention that despite your lengthy and nearly competent tenure as a Head of House prior to your current appointment, that there are still a great number of activities necessary for administration of the school that have apparently escaped your notice. Your predecessor, of course, wouldn't have needed any instructions from me in order for the school to continue running smoothly. I suppose that, when someone who isn't fit to lick Professor Dumbledore's boots takes over his role, then it's understandable that these little issues will arise.

Some deputy head teachers, when passed over for promotion in favor of a less experienced colleague, might have chosen to look elsewhere for employment at that point. But I believe that Hogwarts needs me here, and however far our school may have fallen from greatness, I still have some pride in the school and in the competent performance of my job. C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. have sent over the proposed exam schedule for O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. As Headmaster, you need to sign off on it and return it to the board within three days.

Alternatively, you may choose to propose changes to the schedule, but I warn you that the exam board always has reasons for the choices they make and that they are unlikely to appreciate anyone mucking about with their carefully crafted schedule. (Actually, please do; I'd love to see you take on a seriously piqued O.W.L.s Commissioner. It would be the most fun I've had in months.)

 

* * *

 

20 March 1998  
Minerva McGonagall  
Hogwarts Castle  
Scotland

Rhys Phillips  
14 Wenlock Road  
Islington, London  
England

Dear Mr. Phillips,

I understand from your letter of the 15th instant that you are Muggle-born and received a Hogwarts letter at age eleven, that your parents would not let you give up your place at Eton, and that you therefore studied magic on your own during summers and holidays. I am glad to hear that you maintained proper respect of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and kept your studies to theory only until your seventeenth birthday; if you had acted otherwise, I could not condone it.

However, I must point out to you that since you have been fully practicing magic for less than a year, your skills in wizardry are sure to be far behind those of your age mates. With the sort of devoted study that you give evidence of, it is likely that you will eventually catch up with them. (I only wish I could convince half of our students to study magic on their holidays!) But I would strongly advise you to take another year to practice before you attempt exams.

This preceding advice I would give to you no matter the circumstances. Unfortunately, there is an additional, complicating issue this year. After many years of supporting all students of wizardry, whoever they might be, Hogwarts has bowed to the current political climate and is no longer recognizing Muggle-born witches and wizards.

Thus, regardless of any wishes you might have in that regard, the exams are not open to you this year. I am very sorry. It is my fervent hope that this moratorium on students of Muggle extraction will not endure beyond the end of the year. But then, predicting the future is very difficult, and I have no skill in it myself.

In the hope that you will indeed be able to sit your exams next year, I have enclosed some resources for test preparation: a recommended reading list and a set of example test questions for the core subjects. All the materials I have sent are geared towards the O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). These are the first formal exams of wizarding knowledge (normally offered at the end of students' fifth years). You will have to pass O.W.L.s in any subject in which you wish to attempt a N.E.W.T. (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test), and in some subjects a grade of E or O is required for continued study. If you pass your O.W.L.s next year, you may attempt N.E.W.T.s the year after that, or you may take an additional year or two for further study; the choice is yours. Also, under certain circumstances, allowances are made for independent study students, and, even if they fail some O.W.L.s, they are allowed to reattempt the failed exams in their second year of examination while in the same exam week attempting N.E.W.T.s in their better subjects. But, of course, there is no need to discuss that quite yet.

One last piece of advice: make sure you're keeping up on the news. The Daily Prophet is a poor source, but it's better than nothing. Between that and the Quibbler, you might have a chance of forming a decent picture of what's going on in our world right now—and for a Muggle-born wizard, having such a picture is essential in times like these.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House and Hogwarts C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. (Commission Of Coordinators, Keepers, And Teachers Reading & Invigilating Children's Exams) Liaison

 

* * *

 

MEMOWL  
30 March 1998  
To: Heads of Houses  
From: Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. Liaison

The deadline for registration of students for O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s is 27 April. Please verify that all fifth year and seventh year students (as well as any sixth year or repeating seventh year students who have been approved for resits) have been signed up for the appropriate exams.

 

* * *

 

6 April 1998  
Minerva McGonagall  
Hogwarts Castle  
Scotland

Mrs. Mary Martin  
144 Skipton Road  
Ilkley, West Yorkshire  
England

Dear Mrs. Martin,

I was very happy to receive your letter of the 2nd instant. I haven't seen you since your wedding; it's difficult to believe that you're old enough now to have a fifteen-year-old daughter! And two more coming up rapidly behind her, I believe—how time does fly.

I hope homeschooling has worked out well for you. Yes, of course I understand why you might make such a choice in the troubled times in which we now live, although I am disappointed to have missed out on Laura's presence in my classes. If she has half your ready wit and keen eye for a puzzle, we are the losers for her absence, even as you gain by it.

Certainly she may sit her O.W.L.s at Hogwarts. Please let me know which subjects she will be testing in and I'll include a place for her in the list I submit to the exam board. I will be submitting the list on 27 April, so please send me an owl before then. Exam fee is 2 Galleons per exam.

There are two options for transportation: Side-Along Apparition or the Hogwarts Express. The Hogwarts Express will run once at the beginning and once at the end of the week. Otherwise, you or another guardian can Side-Along Apparate in with the student. Apparition is not allowed inside Hogwarts grounds, but you may Apparate just outside the gates. Anyone accompanying the student will not be allowed onto the Hogwarts grounds, but there are plenty of places in Hogsmeade where they can occupy themselves. Be advised that no allowance for illness will be made in scoring exams, so if your child is prone to Apparition sickness, I would highly recommend that she take the Hogwarts Express instead.

As for accommodations, room and board for your child is available at Hogwarts for 20 Galleons. Please inform me by 20 April if you are selecting this option so that I can arrange rooms. Otherwise, you can arrange for lodging in Hogsmeade, or Apparate in and out each day.

Also, please be aware that there are no penalties should you choose to allow your student one extra year of study and to have her sit her O.W.L.s next year instead. So many things can change in a year. And in many cases, would it not be better to have waited? And yet, I am sure that there are some scenarios in which waiting would be the poorer choice. In any case, the decision is yours and not mine to make; but I beg you not to make the decision lightly.

My best wishes to you and to Greg, and to your children.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

 

* * *

 

NOTICE

(Mr. Longbottom assures me that he will put this somewhere that everyone who needs to will see it. I do not know where that is, nor do I wish to know.)

To all fifth and seventh year students who have taken an unsanctioned leave of absence as part of the fight against You Know Who—

If this had been a normal school year, you would have be sitting O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s at the end of it. Since you have abandoned your classes and your dormitories, I conclude that you have abandoned your previous academic aspirations as well, and that you will be waiting until next year, at the very least, to sit your exams. And indeed, this is what I would advise; it would be much too dangerous for any of you to show your faces in Hogwarts, and you have missed far too many classes and far too much study time.

However, should any of you wish to sit O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s in the current year, as much as I recommend against it, it is still possible for you to register. You must contact me by 27 April with your name and a list of the exams you wish to sit. Please be aware, your expected participation will be public record, and it would be very easy for Death Eaters to stake out the exam rooms. Exams are not worth your lives (as much as I know at least one person in my House might argue the point).

My best wishes to you all. Please stay safe.

Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House (and Hogwarts C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. Liaison)

 

* * *

 

MEMOWL  
22 April 1998  
To: Headmaster Snape  
From: Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House and Hogwarts C.O.C.K.A.T.R.I.C.E. Liaison

Congratulations on not having burnt Hogwarts down yet. (Although that incident with the candles in the second-floor corridor came close. Albus would have handled it better than you did. Except, oh, wait—Albus didn't antagonise as many students during his entire tenure as you have over the last year—not to mention those you antagonised during your years as a teacher—so he wouldn't have needed to handle an incident such as that.)

I hesitate to broach my current topic, as Monday's food fight in the Great Hall made it clear that you are incapable of competently administering students' room and board—even for so small a number of students as that to which Hogwarts' enrolment has currently been reduced. Nonetheless, exams are approaching, and so you must deal with this one way or another.

In other words, there will be—as Albus would have known there always are—additional students coming in for the week of O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Only five this year, and with so many students absent it was relatively simple to arrange accommodations for them, so I've already taken care of that. However, Hogwarts still needs to appear to be a functional school as far as outsiders like these are concerned, and the Carrows will be drawn to the new faces. Can I trust you to keep the Carrows leashed for those few short days?

All of the students are of "acceptable" blood status. Flouting the rules is one thing when only adults are involved, but I know better than to invite any Muggle-born child into this trap.

Please inform me if any particulars of my request are beyond your ability; otherwise, I will assume that you will handle all of the above in a professional manner.

 

* * *

 

23 April 1998

Dear Molly,

Yes, I can register Ronald for N.E.W.T.s, if you are certain that that is what you want, but please allow me to argue against it.

Firstly, fees. I cannot register students for exams without the fee being paid. This is not something over which I have control; it is the requirement of the exam board and non-negotiable. If, as is highly likely, circumstances do not allow for Ronald and other absent students to return to Hogwarts before end of term, you will still be out the price of the exam fees, and have to repeat the payment in the year that your son is finally able to sit his N.E.W.T.s.

Secondly, preparation. Hogwarts has lost many students this year: some over Christmas holidays and some as recently as Easter (my best to Ginevra, by the way); and some as far back as the beginning of the year. Your son—whether he was indeed laid up with spattergroit for the beginning of the school year as claimed, or whether he has been elsewhere all along as seems increasingly likely—is among this last group. He has lost an entire year of study—the most advanced study that Hogwarts offers. Lacking this, he really cannot be considered to be properly prepared to sit his N.E.W.T.s. And neither spattergroit nor life on the run are conducive to studying. Even were the war to end tomorrow, Ronald and his friends would be much better off enrolling in seventh year classes in the upcoming year, and taking their N.E.W.T.s then.

It is not at all unheard of for students to return the year after their expected seventh year to sit N.E.W.T.s. In the past, this has usually been due to medical issues affecting a single student, but this year, with so many Muggle-born students absent, I am sure there will be an immense influx of students wishing to return in order to sit their N.E.W.T.s—if You Know Who is ever defeated, that is.

I wish I could give you better news. My best to you all.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

 

* * *

 

MEMOWL  
29 April 1998  
To: Filius  
From: Minerva

Thank you for the the warning about which of my Gryffindors are having difficulty preparing for exams. I thought I'd return the favor and let you know which of your Ravenclaws have me worried.

This past week, I had to send Miss Turpin and Mr. Brown to Madam Pomfrey for Calming Draughts, as each broke down in tears during their lessons. Also, Mr. Thwaite, Miss Dunnel, and Mr. Smythe among the fifth years, and Mr. Cornfoot and Miss Brocklehurst among the seventh years, performed poorly on the first day of exam review, with little recollection of topics we covered at the beginning of the year.

This is, perhaps, more understandable than it might be in other years, for the students have been on a great deal of strain due to non-academic factors in addition to the stress that Ravenclaws have always imposed upon themselves when it comes to exams. However, it is no less concerning for being understandable, and I hope you will follow up appropriately with the aforementioned students. I will do the same for the Gryffindors you mentioned.

 

* * *

 

NOTICE:

All exams have been cancelled due to the Battle of Hogwarts.

This includes O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. These may be rescheduled to later in the summer, but it is possible that the 1998 administration of both exams may be canceled entirely. No decisions have yet been made on this point.

In either case, any fifth- and seventh-year student who is registered for the exams may request a refund of their exam fee, or they may request that their registration be transferred to the 1999 administration of the exam.

Exam fees of deceased students will be refunded; next of kin should contact Headmistress McGonagall with their request.


End file.
